[Al Arabiya Latest] Darfur's strongest rebel group threatened on Wednesday to walk out of new peace talks with Sudan's government if Khartoum pushed on with plans to sign agreements with other insurgents.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the movements that started the Darfur revolt in 2003, signed a ceasefire with Khartoum in Qatar last week promising to come to a final peace deal by March 15.
JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim said that Khartoum's plans to sign a similar deal with a rebel umbrella group, the Liberation and Justice Movement, would undermine what he saw as JEM's position as the sole negotiator for Darfur's rebels.
"No parallel agreements"
Darfur's once highly coordinated rebel movements have fragmented into a mass of often tiny splinter groups, fractured by ethnic divisions and in-fighting between rival commanders.
The disunity has bedeviled successive efforts to resolve the seven-year conflict.
"If the mediation wants multiple agreements ... JEM will be compelled to go out of the mediation and of the host country and to go away," said Ibrahim, speaking by satellite phone.
"To save the peace talks and peace process it is important to unify all movements as one resistance group and to continue negotiations and stop this process of parallel agreements."
Ibrahim said his talks with Khartoum were already on hold. "We have stopped negotiations until we can get assurances there will be no other parallel agreements."
Other JEM officials told Reuters this week a second deal would give undue prominence to the Liberation and Justice Movement, which they said was made up of 10 small organizations with little or no military presence on the ground.
The hold-up meant meeting the March 15 deadline was increasingly unlikely, they added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
[Al Arabiya Latest] Malaysian student Mohamed Fatri Ben Kazrah flew half way round the world to fulfill his dream of studying Islam and Arabic at a Yemeni religious school.
Ben Kazrah is one of hundreds of students from Asia and Africa in Tarim, a historic town acknowledged as the theological centre of Hadramaut, a poverty-stricken region where government authority is weak, tribes are in control and al-Qaeda is active.
The remote area is also the ancestral home of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whose father was born in a valley not far away from Tarim before moving to Yemen's neighbor Saudi Arabia.
"It's so great to be here. I really enjoy myself," said Bin Kazrah who hopes to join his father's religious school at home after graduation. "If you want to practise a language you need to be in a native environment."
Tarim has long been a teaching centre also for Sufism, a mystical strand in Islam, but all Islamic schools have come under scrutiny since al-Qaeda in Yemen said it was behind a failed attack on a U.S.-bound jet on Dec. 25.
The accused Nigerian plane bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallabis, is believed to have embraced his militant views in Yemen where he had come to study Arabic.
Sitting around teachers on the floor in the tradition Sufi "halaqa" (study group), students listen after evening prayers to subjects such as Islamic law, values and Arabic grammar.
"Schools in Hadramaut...apply only a moderate version of Islamic law and reject extremism," said Abdullah Mohamed Bin Shihab, a professor for education at a local state university.
Big religious schools in Hadramaut cooperate with the government in teaching moderate Islam, analysts say, but there are schools promoting an austere version of Islam which are thought to be breeding grounds for extremism.
"They are the problem. They are more difficult to supervise," said analyst Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani.
He said there were several such radical Arabic schools and religious institutes across Yemen such as Sanaa's Iman University which had a branch in Mukalla, Hadramaut's capital.
Yemen has declared war on al-Qaeda but diplomats say there is little transparency in funding religious schools as the country, where nearly half the population live on less $2 a day, is in dire need of help. Officials do not ask many questions.
Sanaa has toughened up visa procedures after the plane attack but Arab nationals such as Egyptians or Jordanians can still enter the country with just a passport.
"Students get vetted by state security before they come," said Abdul-Qader Mohamed al-Shatri, principal of Rebat Tarim school, one of the most established institutes in Hadramaut.
"They fund their stay, pay for tickets, everything."
Attracting foreign students of Islam is an important factor for the local economy in Hadramaut after tourism collapsed following a wave of al-Qaeda attacks over the past few years.
Since schools such as Rebat Tarim require knowledge of Arabic prior to arrival, many students hook up with Islamic charities at home whose funding and motives are difficult to verify.
Diplomats say some charities fund entire schools, others give scholarships for students. Some schools are funded by wealthy individuals, said Iryani, the Yemeni analyst.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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A Heathrow Airport worker is in police custody today after a series of raids into an alleged terrorist fund-raising plot. It follows the arrest on Thursday of a 30-year-old British Airways employee in Newcastle.
The man is the second British Airways worker held after three men were arrested in dawn raids this morning, taking to four the number in custody. The three men, aged 31, 32 and 43, were seized by police at 5am today in Slough.
The men are now being questioned about a plot to fund a terrorist attack.
Police refused to clarify what positions the two BA employees had within the airline. Sources said the latest arrests were 'significant'.
An influential Muslim scholar in Britain has issued a fatwa banning terror attacks and bombings, insisting that there is no justification for terror acts in the name of Islam.
At a news conference attended by officers from London's Metropolitan Police, lawmakers, charitable organizations and think-tanks, Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said that acts of terrorism cut people off as true followers of Islam.
"They can't claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim Ummah. No, they become heroes of hellfire, and they are leading towards the hellfire," he said.
In his 600-page decree, the founder of the internationally popular Minhaj-ul-Quran movement said there was no place for martyrdom through acts of terror and that such acts had nothing to do with jihad.
The scholar ruled out any excuses or pretexts for justifying acts of terror in supposed efforts to "convert an evil into good."
"Terrorism is terrorism," Qadri insisted. "Violence is violence and it has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses or ifs or buts."
He reiterated that Islam is a religion of peace that promotes beauty, "betterment," goodness and "negates all form of mischief and strife."
The fatwa is not the first by a senior Muslim scholar against extremism, but Qadri's is expected to carry more weight as it will be one of the few available in English and online.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, that should be it then, we can all sleep safely in our beds.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
03/04/2010 4:47 Comments ||
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#2
as it will be one of the few available in English and online.
I will be impressed when he posts the same in Arabic.
#3
I will be impressed when he posts the same in Arabic.
I'd think that, given Mr. Rahir-ul-Qadri's audience, English and Urdu are probably more appropriate, JFM. Very few of them will know more Arabic than necessary to recite the prayers and a few common verses of the Koran and Hadiths... which none of them will understand anyway.
#4
The Minhaj-ul-Quran (means 'path of the Quran' in Urdu) have already published this in Urdu (probably they are working on an arabic version now). They are in many countries. The fellow who issued the Fatwa is a Sufi but claims followers in all the sects. He also claims fluency in a half dozen languages.
They have a lot of money (from where who knows) and have a University in Pakistan, a few magazines and have various other endeavors going on.
The crux of the argument here is that without a umma-wide authority for specific jihad action, personal jihad is un islamic.
Let's see what happens with this. The anti Terrorism Fatwa will of course be attacked, the sources used in the Fatwa will be challenged, etc (or it might simply be ignored or the followers of MT ul-Qadri might be beaten up in lieu of scholarly argument). This (a scholarly challenge within the Islamic world view) is needed (actually it was needed fourteen hundred years ago).
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/04/2010 8:20 Comments ||
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#5
Lord Garth, they don't look to be but do you know if they are Ahmedists?
And as Garth says, he will be challenged with islamic religious text and won't be able to adequately respond in kind.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2010 8:51 Comments ||
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#7
JFM,
The Ahmadiya are another sect (nominally Sunni) that is generally non violent. They believe the 'no compulsion in religion' verse in the Koran (2:256) was not abrogated by the various jihad verses except for the conquests (in Mohammud's time and shortly after) in the Arabian peninsula. They are thriving in India but elsewhere (especially Pakistan) they are persecuted (and frequently robbed and murdered)by other Moslems.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/04/2010 10:39 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has dismissed Spain's accusations that his government has links with terrorist groups, adding that there is nothing to explain about them.
The comments made on Wednesday come after Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero demanded explanation from Caracas over alleged ties to terrorist groups active in South America and Europe.
On Monday, a Spanish judge Eloy Velasco accused Venezuela of acting as a link between the Basque separatist group ETA and FARC rebels in Colombia.
Velasco also charged a suspected member of ETA, Arturo Cubillas Fontan, of serving numerous high-level roles within the Venezuelan government.
Following Velasco's claim, the Spanish government urged Venezuela to clarify its position on the issue with Zapatero stressing that his government "will act in accordance with that explanation."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Can't explain
I think it's love
Try to say it to you
When I feel blue...
Posted by: The Who ||
03/04/2010 7:55 Comments ||
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#2
Nice THE WHO reference!
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
03/04/2010 12:16 Comments ||
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Turkey is open to all options including the recall of its ambassador if a U.S. congressional panel votes to label a 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide, a government official said on Thursday.
NATO-member Turkey has said its ties with the United States would be damaged and Ankara's efforts to normalize relations with Armenia could be endangered if the resolution is passed when U.S. lawmakers vote on Thursday. "We are open to all options," said a government official when asked if Turkey would be willing to recall its ambassador to the United States should the bill be passed.
Ankara recalled its ambassador in 2007 for consultations after a U.S. panel approved a similar bill. "But nobody should forget that the situation is different now than it was in 2007. We are in the process of normalizing ties with Armenia, so the stakes are higher," he said.
Turkey and Armenia signed a protocol last year to normalize relations but the papers are yet to pass through the parliament of either country.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2010 10:28 ||
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#1
They owe us big time for not letting the 4thID pass!
The hell with them.
#2
if a U.S. congressional panel votes to label a 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide
This happened 95 years ago. Does it really matter what a congressional panel thinks?
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2010 18:39 Comments ||
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#3
They did vote, and Turkey pulled its ambassador from Washington, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscriber-only article, so I only saw the following, but it was enough):
The diplomats at the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday adopted a view on the urgent matter of world events that transpired 95 years ago. By a 23-22 margin, the committee declared that the mass deportations and serial massacres of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I ought to be called a genocide. The vote has sparked a full-blown diplomatic spat with Turkey—with Ankara recalling its ambassador to Washington—but that's really no ...
SEOUL, March 4 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. ambassador to South Korea urged North Korea on Thursday to immediately return to six-nation nuclear negotiations without any conditions, saying its demands for a peace treaty and the removal of U.N. sanctions can only be available after its return to the talks.
Ambassador Kathleen Stephens also said that everything will be possible for the communist nation, including its long-held goal of establishing diplomatic relations with Washington, if Pyongyang returns to the negotiating table and gives up its nuclear programs.
"North Korea needs to return to the denuclearization talks and fulfill its commitments," she said at a Seoul forum.
The U.S. ambassador here said the U.S. and its allies have already made clear to North Korea that they will not negotiate a peace treaty with a country that continues to develop nuclear weapons. "We want to see a peaceful unification (of South and North Korea), one that is consistent with the hope of the Korean people. But that means no nuclear weapons in North Korea and no nuclear weapons in South Korea," the U.S. diplomat told the breakfast meeting.
"We need to find a way to hasten the day when Korea will be whole, free and at peace," she added.
Stephens stressed the need for her country and South Korea to work closely together. "I think we are working as closely together as we ever have on this big challenge ... the need to work together is stronger than they ever have been," she said.
The U.S. diplomat noted the ongoing tension between the U.S. and China may have some adverse effect on the countries' joint efforts to denuclearize North Korea, but said all the countries remained committed to the common goal and that they will not be distracted by other issues.
"I think China understands the importance of working closely with both of us (South Korea and the U.S.). We have bilateral issues, but the work on North Korea is too important and we will not be distracted," Stephens said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
OTOH FREEREPUBLIC > NORTH KOREAN ARMY RUNNING OUT OF FOOD, SOLDIERS TOLD/ORDERED TO SLEEP THAN DO TRAINING [malnutrition rising fast in DPRK armed forces]???
Kim Yong-il, the chief of the North Korean Workers' Party's International Department, has been touring cities in northeastern China since late February. The unusually long tour gives rise to a speculation that he may be preparing for a China visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
"Given that summits between North Korea and China have to be arranged, Kim Yong-il may be there to discuss Kim Jong-il's China visit," a diplomatic source in Beijing speculated. "Some of the cities Kim Yong-il has visited may be included in the itinerary of the North Korean leader."
On Feb. 23, the first day of his visit, Kim Yong-il paid a courtesy call on President Hu Jintao and met Wang Jiarui, his Chinese counterpart. Wang had been the North early in February and delivered a letter from Hu to Kim Joing-il to invite him to China.
Concluding meetings with Chinese leaders on the first day of his tour, Kim started visiting major cities in north and northeastern China the following day. He visited the Binhai economic zone in Tianjin on Feb. 24. The next day he toured Dalian in Liaoning Province's coastal economic belt and Shenyang. On Feb. 28, he visited Changchun, Jilin Province. The regional development belt of Changchun, Jilin and Tumen is linked to the Rajin-Sonbong area in North Hamgyong Province, which the North turned into a special economic zone in January.
That the cities Kim visited are all near the border gives rise to a speculation that economic issues will top the agenda if the North Korean leader visits China.
Kim Yong-il also met provincial leaders who briefed him on economic development projects and proposed strengthened cooperation with the North, the local media reported.
Liaoning and Jilin provinces have long proposed to the North stronger economic cooperation and construction of railroads, roads and bridges to secure access to the East Sea. But the North has apparently been suspicious of China's motives.
"If the North Korean leader visits China, economic cooperation issue will be the main agenda along with the six-party talks," a Chinese expert on North Korea said. But some sources say Kim Yong-il's trip has nothing to do with preparations for a visit from his leader since his entourage consists mainly of International Department officials.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asserts that the lingering global financial crisis has exposed the dark side of the capitalist economic system in the West, adding that the US will go down in history as the biggest thief ever.
In a Tuesday meeting with representatives of the Developing Eight (D8) countries, Ahmadinejad reiterated that western-style capitalism is the main reason behind the endless wave of problems plaguing global financial organizations, particularly in the US.
The Iranian president added that Western countries should face up to the fact that the greed of capitalism has pushed it into the brink of collapse.
"The whole idea of capitalism is based on emptying the pockets of world's nations to secure the interests of a selected few," he emphasized.
"Based on credible reports, the US Treasury over the past 30 years has printed more than USD 29,000 billion (USD 29 trillion) in debt-based banknotes and has given it to nations in exchange for goods. This method is the biggest theft in human history," said the Iranian president.
Ahmadinejad also urged D8 member states to drop the American dollar in their various financial dealings and business transactions in the future.
Representatives from the D8 member states have gathered in Tehran to discuss ways of promoting economic and industrial cooperation.
The D8 members consist of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
OMG, he's a conspirazoid truther too.
Iranians really are f**ked with him running the country.
Two German converts to Islam and two Turkish men were convicted Thursday over a foiled 2007 plot to attack U.S. targets in Germany and given prison sentences ranging up to 12 years.
The four men, operating as a German cell of the radical Islamic Jihad Union, had plotted bombing attacks against American citizens and facilities including the U.S. Air Force's Ramstein base in Germany, the Duesseldorf state court found.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2010 10:43 ||
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A MUSLIM cleric is set to be expelled from the United States after pleading guilty to lying to FBI agents when they probed a major bomb plot in New York last year.
Ahmad Wais Afzali, 39, reversed an earlier plea of not guilty and admitted in federal court in Brooklyn to making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Under a plea agreement he faces a reduced prison sentence of up to six months.
He would then have to leave the United States, where he is a permanent resident working as an imam at a New York mosque, but not a citizen.
Arrested in September last year, Mr Afzali was charged with lying to FBI agents about tipping off Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan immigrant who has since confessed to conspiring to bomb New York.
According to prosecutors, Mr Afzali telephoned Zazi to warn him that he was being watched. Zazi subsequently abandoned the bomb plot and returned from New York to his home in Denver, Colorado.
In court, Mr Afzali wept as he admitted to lying to the FBI, but said he had only called Zazi to help New York police who came to him for information on the terrorism suspect.
"On September 7, I called Najibullah Zazi. During that conversation I told Najibullah that law enforcement authorities had been to see me about him," he said.
But when the FBI asked him about this six days later, he denied having had the conversation.
"When I was asked whether I had told Zazi about law enforcement being interested in him, I lied and said I did not."
Mr Afzali, 39, is originally from Afghanistan but has family and deep roots in New York.
The plea bargain saw his charge reduced from lying to the FBI in a terrorism case to simply lying. That will reduce his sentence when a judge rules in April.
However, the bargain also stipulates his departure from the country within 90 days of leaving prison.
Mr Afzali, who remained free on bail ahead of sentencing, said outside the court that he was diabetic and that abroad he would not be able to get proper treatment. "I just signed my death sentence," he said.
Mr Afzali said he was "truly, deeply sorry" but he also sounded a bitter note: "I helped the government and this is what I get."
#1
Mr Afzali, who remained free on bail ahead of sentencing, said outside the court that he was diabetic and that abroad he would not be able to get proper treatment. "I just signed my death sentence," he said.
The Obama administration lifted the veil Tuesday on a highly-secretive set of policies to defend the U.S. from cyber attacks. It was an open secret that the National Security Agency was bolstering a Homeland Security program to detect and respond to cyber attacks on government systems, but a summary of that program declassified Tuesday provides more details of NSA's role in a Homeland program known as Einstein.
The current version of the program is widely seen as providing meager protection against attack, but a new version being built will be more robust–largely because it's rooted in NSA technology. The program is designed to look for indicators of cyber attacks by digging into all Internet communications, including the contents of emails, according to the declassified summary. Republicans listening into phone conversations of terrorists = bad.
Democrats reading all the e-mails on the internet = good.
Homeland Security will then strip out identifying information and pass along data on new threats to NSA. It will also use threat information from NSA to better identify emerging cyber attacks.
NSA's role is a careful balance because of the political battles that ensued over the agency's role in domestic surveillance in the George W. Bush administration. Declassifying details of the NSA's role, in a program initially developed during the Bush administration and continued in the Obama administration, will likely ignite new debates over privacy. Nah, dissent is no longer patriotic ...
The White House's new cyber-security chief, Howard Schmidt, announced the move to declassify the program in a speech at the RSA conference in San Francisco–his first major public address since assuming the post in January. He said addressing potential privacy concerns was one of the ten initial steps he planned to take. “We're really paying attention, and we get it,' he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2010 07:46 ||
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#1
Homeland Security will then strip out identifying information and pass along data on new threats to NSA.
Hope they have a better track record with important info than with their weapons.
#4
I do not understand the point of this if the identifying information is stripped out from communications of concern. Do we not want to know who the potential bad guys are, so that we can check if those particular individuals really have nefarious intentions? I would sleep very badly if I knew exactly what bad people were plotting, were I then quite certain I would not be able to find and stop them... because that information had been deliberately kept from me!
But perhaps in my simple ignorance I misunderstand the plan.
Protestors in Islamabad have asked the Pakistani government to do more to help Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently in prison in the United States.
During the demonstrations which were held on Wednesday, rights activist , students, and political party leaders urged the government to take all possible measures to secure the release of Aafia, who is in US custody for her alleged contacts with Al-Qaeda, the Press TV correspondent reported.
Addressing the rally, Siddiqui's sister, Fauzia asked for the immediate release and return of Aafia, calling it "a question of honor for Pakistan."
She strongly criticized Pakistani officials over their failure to return Aafia to the country.
Siddiqui was charged with shooting at FBI agents and US military personnel in a police station in Ghazni, Afghanistan, where she was interrogated in 2008. She was convicted in a New York court on February 3, 2010.
Siddiqui vehemently denied all the charges during the trial, calling them 'ridiculous' and insisting that she was framed, jailed, and tortured by US agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
not a question justice or right or wrong, just Pakistani honor
#2
Muslims, esp the Pakistani variety, have no honor.
Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.
Koran 9:5
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2010 9:20 Comments ||
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#3
So, drop her out of a plane at 30000 feet without a parachute over Islamabad.
As the U.S. prepares to withdraw its forces from Iraq, Iran is said to be working hard to fill a potential power vacuum — an effort that faces its first big test in Sunday's elections, in which Tehran is backing hard-liners against a coalition of moderates.
Shiite Iran already has reliable allies in Syria, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Gaza's Hamas, and a free rein in Iraq would broaden its regional leverage, unnerving Israel and potentially diminishing the clout of Sunni powerhouses like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
But it is Iran's alleged political meddling — what U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill called its "malevolent involvement" — that most troubles U.S and Iraqi officials.
According to a senior Iraqi government security official with access to intelligence reports, it was Iranian influence that brought about the election alliance between two avowed Shiite rivals — the Sadrists who follow Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric believed to be living in Iran, and the Iranian-backed Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2010 10:31 ||
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Last week, article is from a March 4 publication
operatives from one of the anti Hamas
fundamentalist groups set off three explosive charges in the Shati refugee camp, not far from the home of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Two weeks ago, the car of a Hamas police officer was blown up in Khan Younis and three cars of Hamas officials exploded in Gaza City. Three similar explosions occurred in January. Also, there have been attempts to blow up Red Cross vehicles and pharmacies that sell condoms.
The radical Islamists in Gaza are divided into several groups: Jaljalat consists of former Hamas members who left the organization because they felt it was not a jihadist movement. Jaljalat opposes attacking fellow Palestinians. On the other hand, there are groups like Jund Ansar Allah, Army of Islam and Army of the Nation which are much closer ideologically to Al-Qaida, and these groups are responsible for attacks on cafes and Christian institutions in Gaza.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/04/2010 20:55 ||
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In the past two days, 4 Palestinians, including a woman and a child, were wounded in incidents of misuse of weapons in Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip and Deir al-Balah town in the central Gaza Strip. "CSI: Jabalya."
"Yes, I'd like to report a misuse of weapons."
"I'll connect you."
"Hello. You have reached CSI:Jabalya's Misuse of Weapons Division. Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and our first available representative will be happy to assist you. Estimated response time is currently...SIX...TEEN hours and...TWENTY...FOUR...minutes.
"Hello. You have reached CSI:Jab...
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 15:00, on Wednesday, 03 March 2010, Mo'athe Abdul Karim al-Ja'beer, 15, and Ahmed Ziad Mousa, 18, both from Jabalya refugee camp, were admitted into Kamal 'Edwan Hospital in Beit Lahia town. They were wounded by shrapnel from the explosion of a bomb. Al-Ja'beer and Mousa were mishandled the fuse of the bomb, which was brought by al-Ja'beer to a barbershop in the center of Jabalya refugee camp. What'll we do with it, Ahmed?
Let's take it to the barbershop, Mo. They'll know what to do.
According to medical sources, the right hand's fingers of al-Ja'beer were amputated, while Mosa was wounded by shrapnel to his left eye. They sustain moderate wounds. Yeah, it's all fun and games until someone takes shrapnel in the eye and his buddy loses his fingers. There goes Mo's Little League career...
At approximately 17:30 of the same day, Bilal Akram Abu Lehia, 19, from Jabalya refugee camp, was admitted into Kamal 'Edwan Hospital in Beit Lahia. He was wounded by a gunshot to the left leg, as he was playing with his private gun at home. Medical sources described his wound as moderate. Doing his Plaxico Burress imitation, I'll bet. This'll impress all the chicks at the club...
At approximately 16:00, on Tuesday, 02 March 2010, Nazmiya Ali Fatayer, 55, from Deir al-Balah town in the central Gaza Strip, was wounded by shrapnel from a gunshot to her legs by mistake, as her son was playing with a gun. Fatayer was taken to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to receive medical treatment, where medical sources described her wound as light. Maybe you'll listen the next time when I say no more meatloaf. Okay, mom?
PCHR is deeply concerned over increasing incidents of misuse of weapons, which are part of the state of security chaos and proliferation of weapons in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. PCHR calls upon concerned authorities to take all necessary measures needed for ensuring non-recurrence of such incidents. Perhaps they could work on that "playing" with guns thing to start?
[Ma'an] Confidential talks are underway between rival Palestinian factions, aimed at restoring national unity, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine politburo member Jamil Majdalawi told Ma'an on Wednesday. Well, they were secret until Jamil shot off his big friggin mouth.
Talks began in February, aimed at overcoming the obstacles faced in ratifying the Egyptian-sponsored unity deal, Majdalawi said, adding that the dialogue has remained out of media speculation to ensure its success. So...why are you talking to us then?
Majdalawi further said that Hamas has taken a positive role in these "ongoing secret dialogues." Nobody's been shot in the feet. Yet...
The Islamist movement has maintained that it will not ratify the agreement until adjustments have been made, while Fatah, which has already signed the proposal, has called on Hamas to sign and then discuss amendments. Hey! They got "reconciliation" too!
On Wednesday, senior Islamic Jihad leader Nafeth Azzam said there is "great optimism over progress on Palestinian reconciliation ... Hamas is about to ratify the Egyptian proposal."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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Indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority may begin as early as Sunday, Haaretz had learned. U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell will land in Israel on Saturday night, and the American administration is hoping the sides will declare the beginning of indirect talks the following morning, ahead of the arrival of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Monday.
The foreign ministers of the Arab League announced in Cairo Wednesday they were supporting the American initiative for indirect negotiations, qualifying their support with a four-month deadline. They said no progress will be possible without a complete settlement freeze.
The announcement came after heavy American, Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi pressure was put on the Palestinians and on other members of the League. The pressure also resulted in the Palestinians' withdrawing a much tougher and reserved statement about the negotiations than the one eventually released. The Arab League decision was not unanimous and was strongly contested by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, who went as far as to interrupt when Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, was reading out the statement, to say the decision on entering negotiations rested ultimately with the PA.
The foreign ministers set a four-month deadline for the first phase of indirect negotiations after which the Arab League will assess the progress of the talks and decide whether to offer further support.
The foreign ministers said their decision was a last effort to promote peace through negotiations and was meant to allow the American administration an opportunity to facilitate the process. "Despite the lack of conviction in the seriousness of the Israeli side, the committee sees that it would give the indirect talks the chance as a last attempt and to facilitate the U.S. role," the statement read.
Moussa stressed that even indirect negotiations are doomed to failure if Israeli measures such as settlement construction continue. He warned that if indirect talks fail to yield results, the Arabs will call for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting to address the Arab-Israeli conflict and would ask Washington not to use its veto.
The Americans proposed the indirect talks as a way to allow the process to move forward without PA President Mahmoud Abbas' losing face by being seen as giving up on his demand for a complete settlement freeze. Abbas had also sought the Arab League's support to preempt Palestinian criticism of the move.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday in Gaza that he calls on the Arab League to review its decision.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented Wednesday in a Knesset speech that "it seems the conditions for proximity talks are ripening." He said: "All said and done, the world understands that this government is striving for negotiations. It has made some difficult steps to further these negotiations. It said things and did things," he said.
The prime minister also slammed the Palestinians for refusing "without justification and no reason whatsoever to reenter negotiations."
Netanyahu said: "I've said before that although you normally need two to tango, in this case you might need three. These negotiations may require some going back and forth, but Israel is not and never was an obstacle to negotiations."
American Vice President Joe Biden is expected to arrive here on Monday, and the American administration is keen to have the announcement of indirect negotiations before he lands, so he can congratulate the sides and present the talks as an American achievement.
Special envoy Mitchell will mediate the talks, which will be the first formal negotiations after a 15-month hiatus, since before Netanyahu took office. These will also be the first Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to take place under the Obama administration.
Negotiations have been at a standstill as Abbas refused to enter talks so long as any construction takes place in any settlement, including East Jerusalem.
At this stage, negotiations will focus on border issues, with the hope that if these can be resolved, the issue of settlement construction will be next on the agenda, followed by the core issues of the status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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Sine yesterday I didn't see in time your posts about UK and WWII where you played "holier than thou" I will remind you that there were Palestinian Jews who, in 1944 with Auschwitz working at top capacity, instead of say, enlisting in the Allied Armies were launching terrorist attacks on the British thus pinning in the Middle East resources who should have been fighting the Nazis. Furthermore one of those terrorists, a such Itzhak Shamir, instead of being ostracized as a traitor ended becoming Prime Minister of Israel
#3
Menachem Begin was a busy revolutionaryterrorist bee too.
No matter though. The funhouse of one-way mirrors g(r)im throws stones from is irony proof. (Ow. Gotta go take a pill. Think I gots metaphor overload.)
Gentlemen, I repeat my question from yesterday: is this really necessary? We are all on the same side of the war on jihad, and can disagree on some minor details without disagreeing on the critical point. As it was also during World War II, where some Jews saw the British refusal to allow Jews to emigrate to Palestine as participation, however unintended, in the German genocide... and it must be remembered there was a strong antisemitic streak in the British government, then and since -- so the conclusion was not necessarily that far off about the Foreign Department which ran the Palestinian Mandate, at least.
Most certainly their souls were not pure as the driven snow. Even after the war the British government as one of the Four Powers controlling conquered Germany, put Jews in refugee camps surrounded by barbed wire, and incarcerated those who attempted to sneak into the Palestinian Mandate on Cyprus, again behind barbed wire. Surely all here have seen the film Exodus or read the book! In a similar vein, while my mother and her family were in hiding during the war in Holland, her cousins were incarcerated by the British in Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania). And while the British at the time believed their reasoning to be sound, those at the receiving end did not necessarily agree.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh said Wednesday that western countries have derailed the IAEA from its statutory mandate.
"Once again the application of safeguards in my country is on the agenda of the Board of Governors after over 6 years! Why?" Soltanieh said in Vienna before the IAEA Board of Governors on Wednesday.
"A thorough and careful diagnosis of the past developments shows that the root cause is the hidden agenda of few western countries, specifically the United Sates, to derail the agency from its statutory mandate as an international technical organization established for promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, to a merely a verification organization," he added.
"They also have tried to jeopardize its independence through instrumental use of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). In a nutshell, to change the agency's prestigious identity to a UN watchdog! To monitor and control Vienna from New York!" he explained.
According to the Iranian envoy, Iran's peaceful nuclear program is merely a pretext for the implementation of this ill-intentioned and dangerous course of action.
"Today [it] is Iran, tomorrow [it] is another developing country! They have already started confrontation against Syria, under the false pretexts, following the Israeli military aggression," he noted.
"The secretariat has been and is under tremendous pressure and continuous interference by those few countries. My government hopes that the new director general will resist such pressures to keep the impartiality of the agency as he has already reiterated during the election campaign and taking oath ceremony," he asserted.
"These are warning worrisome signals which require mobilization for an immediate common action by majority of member states, especially by developing countries, against the attitude and conducts of a few western countries, which damages the credibility, integrity and the independence of the agency," Soltanieh concluded.
Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, insists that its program is directed at the civilian applications of the technology, including clean energy production.
World powers, most of which possess and continue to develop a variety of nuclear arsenals that have been tested and even used in military confrontations, accuse Iran of the "intention" to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels and have gone to great lengths to prevent the country from producing fuel for its medical and industrial needs.
The US and its European allies have been pushing hard for new sanctions against Iran in a bid to force the country meet their demands over its nuclear program.
Western countries have already imposed three rounds of UNSC-backed sanctions on Iran and are currently lobbying for a fourth, which is believed to contain a "symbolic" tightening of economic measures against the Tehran government, which has maintained that any such actions will again prove futile.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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Turkey's foreign minister has called for a peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear issue, saying imposing new sanctions on the country will have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East.
"We are against all nuclear weapons wherever they are, and we do not want them in our region, not just in Iran and anywhere else. Yet, we believe that the problem should be solved through diplomacy," Today's Zaman newspaper quoted Ahmet Davutoglu as saying on Wednesday.
"We think that military means or sanctions have negative effects on our region," he told reporters after addressing a meeting of foreign ministers of the Arab League in Cairo.
Turkey is among those countries which oppose fresh sanctions against Tehran, and has repeatedly called for a peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear issue.
Meanwhile, with the West pushing for new sanctions against Iran, the country says that such measures will not force it into giving up the Iranian nation's legitimate right to access nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Mr. Turkey. With all due respect, what do you think has been going on these last several year? Negotiations have not worked.
Iran is bellicose and unwilling to be honest about their nuclear program and it's significant arms proliferation. Turkey should spend more time convincing Iran to negotiate in good faith rather than the strategy Iran has pursued for the last several years.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
03/04/2010 11:22 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] As the West pushes for new sanctions against Iran, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) moves to issue a new statement, voicing its support for Iran's peaceful nuclear program.
Egypt's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) read the newly-issued NAM statement in a Wednesday meeting of nuclear watchdog's board of governors.
"NAM confirms the basic and inalienable right of all states to the development, research, production and use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, without any discrimination and in conformity with their respective legal obligations," the statement said.
"Therefore, nothing should be interpreted in a way as inhibiting or restricting the right of states to develop atomic energy for peaceful purposes," it added.
"States' choices and decisions including those of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear technology and its fuel cycle policies must be respected," the 118-member movement said in its statement.
"NAM reaffirms the inviolability of peaceful nuclear activities and that any attack or threat of attack against peaceful nuclear activities, operational or under construction, poses a serious threat to human beings and the purposes of the Charter of the United Nation and of the regulations of the IAEA," it said.
The statement comes as the West is weighing new sanctions on Iran in an effort to force the country into meeting its demands over its nuclear program.
Meanwhile, China -- a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council -- has shrugged off Washington's call for harsher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities, arguing that diplomatic efforts have not yet been exhausted.
Tehran has repeatedly declared that sanctions will not force it to give up the Iranian nation's legitimate right to access nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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OTOH BHARAT RAKSHAK > [2001]JAPAN OFFERED TO HIDE BAMIYAN BUDDHA STATUES, BUT TALIBAN ASKED JAPAN TO CONVERT TO ISLAM INSTEAD.
[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to win Brazil's support on Wednesday for more sanctions against Iran and said Tehran would not talk seriously about its nuclear program until the United Nations took new action.
Even before he met with Clinton, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said "it is not wise to push Iran into a corner. It is wise to establish negotiations."
Clinton's visit to Brasilia came as U.S. diplomats seek to persuade key U.N. Security Council members that the time has come for action on Iran, which has defied U.N. demands that it stop enriching uranium.
"Personally speaking, I think it's only after we pass sanctions in the Security Council that Iran will negotiate in good faith," Clinton said.
"That is my belief, that is our administration's belief: that once the international community speaks in unison around a resolution then the Iranians will come and begin to negotiate."
However she added that, "the door is open for negotiations. We never slammed it shut, but we don't see anybody, even in the far off distance, close to it."
Brazil is a current voting member on the 15-strong U.N. Security Council though it is not one of the five permanent veto-wielding members, which are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
Lula, who has upset Washington by pursuing close ties with Tehran, has repeatedly voiced caution over the drive by the United States, Britain, France and Germany for new sanctions over Iran's nuclear program, which they fear is a cover for making atomic weapons.
Tehran has denied the accusation, and says its program is purely for peaceful purposes.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
We should not overlook Brazil, as a member of the International Space Station, with missile technology and satellite launch capabilities. Left-leaning Lula da Silva is a little too chummy with Ahmadinejad and Chavez. Trust but verify applies to everyone anymore.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority may begin as early as Sunday, Haaretz had learned. U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell will land in Israel on Saturday night, and the American administration is hoping the sides will declare the beginning of indirect talks the following morning, ahead of the arrival of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Monday. 
